LINCOLN, Neb.—Disagreements between key lawmakers are blocking a bill to change Nebraska’s method of execution to lethal injection.
The bill (LB36) from Speaker Mike Flood of Norfolk failed to advance in the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. It got just four votes from the eight members, with four members not voting. The bill wasn’t killed, but, for now, it won’t move to the whole body.
Nebraska can’t carry out death sentences since the state Supreme Court ruled last year that the state’s use of the electric chair is unconstitutional because it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha, who opposed advancing the bill, wants changes in the measure to fix what he says are flaws in the way capital punishment is meted out.
Lathrop said it costs the state millions of dollars to execute prisoners. Trials typically last longer, inmates have chances for extensive appeals, and they must be held separate from the rest of the prisoners.
And only a small percentage of people convicted of first-degree murder are ever executed, Lathrop said. Sometimes a county attorney may decide not to seek the death penalty simply because the county can’t afford the prosecution, he said.
“There are things about the death penalty that are broke,” Lathrop said. “I don’t want it to leave here until it is cleaned up. It sits here until it gets fixed.”
Several of the 36 remaining states with the death penalty are considering legislation this year to end it, and cost is a major factor in many of those debates.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on Wednesday signed a bill to change the state’s most severe punishment from the death penalty to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The Nebraska committee’s vote is sure to infuriate supporters of the death penalty, who are determined that the state have a means of executing prisoners.
“I think we made a mistake here today, and we’re going to pay for it,” said Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh of Omaha, who voted to advance the bill. “If there’s a motion to pull this from committee, none of us should be surprised.”
Flood would have to agree with a motion to bring the bill to the whole Legislature without the committee’s approval. It would require 25 votes on the floor.
“I’m not inclined to do that,” Flood said. “In the past, I’ve opposed motions to pull bills from committee, because it devalues the committee process.”
Flood said he’s willing to work with the committee, but “I need to know what they want.”
“I’m very confident that the death penalty is sought only in cases where the behavior warrants,” he said.
Lathrop wants a key change to Flood’s bill: requiring that in most cases, a jury find two aggravating factors for a person to be sentenced to death. Currently, only one is necessary.
Flood said he opposes that idea.
Aggravating circumstances include particularly heinous acts of violence, violent criminal histories or other factors that warrant the death penalty as determined by judges and juries.
The committee vote may come down to Sen. Kent Rogert of Tekamah. He opposes the death penalty, but he thinks that if the law is on the books, there should be a way of carrying it out.
He also believes capital punishment is too expensive.
“We’re broke,” Rogert said of the state, which is facing a budget shortfall. “How many millions of dollars are we going to spend before we realize maybe it’s not worth it?”
Rogert said he might vote to advance the bill even without changes from Flood. He said the issue doesn’t necessarily need to be decided this session.
“Are we going to put people to death as soon as we get it on the books? I don’t think so,” Rogert said.
Flood, Republican Gov. Dave Heineman and Attorney General Jon Bruning have all said they want the bill debated this session.
“The issue is not over yet,” Heineman said Wednesday afternoon.
The governor said he expects Flood to talk with committee members, and he wants to see what comes out of that.
Heineman wouldn’t speculate on what would happen if the state doesn’t approve a new method of execution this session.
Bruning also wasn’t rattled by the action on Wednesday, saying that the committee is wrestling with difficult issues.
“I have confidence in the process and remain hopeful the bill will advance from committee,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sen. Brenda Council of Omaha is waiting for action on her bill to repeal the death penalty. Council made a motion Wednesday to advance her bill (LB306) out of committee, but she withdrew the motion after others pointed out that death-penalty supporters could use it to get the lethal-injection bill on the floor.
Senators can gut a bill on the floor and completely change it with an amendment as long as the subject matter is related.
There are 11 men on Nebraska’s death row; the last execution occurred in 1997.
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